If your spouse was the member of the household who handled all issues pertaining to car ownership, everything from purchasing decisions to scheduling and handling maintenance, taking over this job as a widow can seem daunting. I’ll give you some help with that today and in future posts. In fact, cars are an oft-neglected piece … Read More
Your credit score is a rating, expressed as a number and often accompanied with a description of what that number means (such as “Good”). It is a representation to potential lenders of how credit worthy you are. Lenders use this rating to decide whether or not to provide you with credit, and if so, how … Read More
A credit report is like an account statement. In it, the reporting agency provides information on your current and past credit activity (usually for 7 years; 10 if you’ve declared bankruptcy). The information in the report is provided to the agency by lenders you have credit with. One credit agency’s report may look different from … Read More
A few months ago, I wrote about how common it is for widows to struggle with the reality of being on their own, financially and in most other aspects of their life. You, the surviving spouse have to re-establish life as an individual. This can feel overwhelming. Depending on how you and your partner handled … Read More
Pay your credit card off completely each month. The siamese twin to this tip is “don’t put anything on your credit card you can’t afford to pay off completely when the bill the comes due.” Set up automatic payments. It’s easy through online banking or asking the bank to set up an automatic transfer so … Read More
When your spouse/partner dies, what happens to any debt they had or that you shared jointly? Are you responsible for any money owed? What will happen to your credit rating? With household debt in the U.S. and Canada being at or near all-time highs, chances are the death of your spouse will bring questions about … Read More
